Massachusetts Emergency Housing Program spending $2,932 per family per week

Massachusetts’ Emergency Housing Assistance (EA) Program, designed to provide shelter and support for families facing homelessness, including a significant number of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, is spending $2,932 per family per week and is estimated to cost taxpayers over $1 billion in FY2025. This is per the most recent bi-weekly report submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means dated April 22, 2025.

A breakdown of the EA costs

The EA Program’s financial scale is staggering, with expenditures totaling $894.0 million in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) and $706.8 million in FY25 as of April 17, 2025. The report projects FY25 costs to reach $1.064 billion by year-end, driven by expenses for shelter operations, associated services, National Guard activation, Temporary Respite Centers (TRCs), Clinical and Safety Risk Assessment (CSRA) sites, and exit programs like HomeBASE. The weekly average cost per family in the EA system is $2,932, based on January 2025 data, underscoring the resource-intensive nature of providing shelter and support.

In FY24, $393.2 million was drawn from reserve accounts (1599-0514 and 1599-1213), closing the year with no final deficiency. FY25 expenditures, detailed in Appendix C of the report, include $537.6 million for direct shelter, $77.6 million for HomeBASE, $44.8 million for TRC and CSRA operations, and $12.3 million for educational aid, among other categories. Over the last 14 days reported (April 3–17, 2025), $56.3 million was spent, with $39.2 million allocated to direct shelter and $11.7 million to HomeBASE.

Municipal and Educational Costs

The EA Program extends beyond shelter provision, with substantial funds allocated to municipalities and school districts hosting families. In FY24 and FY25, $61.6 million was expended on municipal supports, including $58.4 million for school district per-pupil emergency aid and $3.2 million for municipal room occupancy tax reimbursements. Appendix B details school district aid, with Worcester receiving $3.0 million, Marlborough $2.9 million, and West Springfield $2.6 million, among others, from FY23 to FY25. These funds address the educational needs of 6 new student enrollments in K-12 districts linked to EA sites in the last 14 days, though reporting lags may understate the total.

Municipalities hosting shelters, hotels, or motels—such as Boston (1,202 Bridge Shelter families), Lynn (315), and Worcester (264)—receive room tax reimbursements to offset economic impacts. For example, Woburn received $327,000 in FY24, and Stoughton $288,000 in FY25, as shown in Appendix A. The state has reduced hotel usage, with 1,588 rooms active (down from a peak of over 100 hotels) and 122 rooms phased out in the last 14 days, reflecting efforts to transition families to more stable housing.

Shelter Operations and Exits

As of April 17, 2025, the EA Program supports 4,935 Bridge Shelter families and 248 Rapid Shelter families across municipalities, with 2,120 and 131 families, respectively, identified as migrants, refugees, or asylum seekers. The program operates 43 hotels, three TRCs (Chelsea, Lexington, Norfolk), and one CSRA site (Revere), with 289 families in these temporary facilities. The funded capacity is 5,800 families, but the administration aims to reduce the caseload to 4,000 and eliminate hotel shelters by year-end.

Exits are a priority, with 282 Bridge Shelter and 38 Rapid Shelter families leaving the program between April 3 and April 17, 2025. Of these, 170 Bridge Shelter families moved to market-rate housing, 39 to subsidized housing, and 69 to other or unknown destinations. The average length of stay for exiting families was 431 days (Bridge) and 73 days (Rapid), with overall program averages of 362 and 86 days, respectively. HomeBASE, providing up to three years of rental assistance, has been critical, with a median processing time of 10 days, down from 13 days in November 2024. Strategic Rehousing Initiative (SRI) funds and housing subsidies further support exits, though only 2 Rapid Shelter families exited due to reaching their length-of-stay limit.

Work Authorization and Employment

The EA Program also facilitates economic integration, particularly for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Work authorization clinics held in November 2024 supported 2,910 individuals, completing 1,951 biometrics and vaccinating 1,031. As a result, 2,936 Bridge Shelter and 139 Rapid Shelter individuals have confirmed work authorizations, with 3,275 and 161 having filed applications. Employment is notable, with 2,044 individuals in the EA system employed, though exits may reduce this number as families transition out.

Challenges and Future Outlook

The EA Program faces challenges, including high costs, verification issues (106 families couldn’t provide required documents, with 103 applications pending), and the need to balance immediate shelter needs with long-term housing solutions. Domestic violence (403 Bridge, 5 Rapid), health and safety risks (1,163 Bridge, 10 Rapid), and uninhabitable housing (1,724 Bridge, 128 Rapid) are leading causes of homelessness, highlighting the program’s role in addressing complex social issues.